Elsa was making cookies with Ophelia in the kitchen.
"So…do you have a name for your dragon? It's been four days." Hiccup asked, and Elsa glanced up at him. He was perpetrating at his brow, and she wasn't sure if it was because he'd been forging her new saddle or working on his 'secret project' that she was pretty sure their future home. She gave a tiny smile.
"I'm just going to let a name come to me." She hummed with a small shrug, "I don't think she minds." Elsa said, "How did you ever name your dragon Toothless?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah! He has really sharp teeth!" Ophelia agreed.
"Well, when I first met him, he had his teeth retracted. And I don't know; it was supposed to be a joke, and it eventually just…stuck." He said, "I don't have some big long elaborate story."
"Shame. Ophelia was looking for a fairy tale with a damsel in distress and a brave hero." Elsa joked, and Hiccup sat, smiling. Ophelia took a bold lick from the bole with her finger, and sucked on it.
"I'm going to go and bring Hubert in here." She announced with a finger still in her mouth, and ran into the next room.
"You know…" Hiccup began hesitantly, "Her birthday is soon, right?" He asked.
"Yes. I wasn't going to make a fuss of it. It's only five." Elsa said, "Why?"
"Well…it's just that usually at the age of five, we begin school for the children here. At least a sort of education, everything from arithmetic to dragon taming." He said. Elsa set her spoon down.
"Do you think that's…wise?" She questioned, "Hiccup, she's not like them." Elsa hissed in a low voice.
"She's a kid, they're all the same. She just lived in a different time." Hiccup said, and Elsa scowled, crossing her arms, "Elsa…people are going to wonder more if we keep her stuck in here." He pointed it out.
"I just…I don't know if…she hasn't really realized I think that she's stuck here. She hasn't cried at all or anything." Elsa said worriedly.
"Perhaps she is taking it incredibly well?" Hiccup offered up.
"No." Elsa shook her head, "I…I read books on human nature and how we think. Really, I think it's such a traumatic realization for her she is literally not thinking about it. Trying to convince herself that this is all great and fun, but it could be really harmful if she doesn't come to terms with it soon…"
"Then perhaps school will help her realize?" Hiccup pressed, "Get some stability."
"But if we press it too soon, it may harm her even worse." Elsa leaned back against a wood piece of furniture, pressing one hand to her forehead, "I just…I don't know what to do." She moaned, "I'm not supposed to be a mother…not for another ten months, at the very least!"
Valka walked in with some fresh food, brushing off her feet. She took one look at the situation, "What's wrong?" She asked.
"I think we should send Ophelia off to school when she turns five, like every other kid here." Hiccup said, "But Elsa is worried Ophelia isn't…seeing reality for what it is. She took the news a week or so ago that she'd be here for a long time a little too well." Hiccup said shortly.
Valka nodded, and Elsa presented her case, ending up with tears on the edge of her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, and Hiccup resisted the urge to go and comfort her, because he was pretty sure they weren't at that relationship stage yet.
"I think…" Valka pressed her fingers together, "You're right, it could be dangerous." A flash of triumph exploded on Elsa's face, "But Hiccup is also correct. We cannot play favorites. Therefore, I recommend we start sending her for half days at a time, I'm sure the flee from your kingdom must have been very traumatic to being with." Valka said, "Perhaps if she begins to make friends, when reality does set it, it will be a bit easier for her."
"I think that's a compromise we can both agree with." Hiccup said. He did not expect the burst of anger from Elsa.
She slammed the utensil she'd been using to make food down. "Ophelia is not a compromise!" She roared, "A compromise is you wanting blue walls, and me wanting red walls and agreeing to paint it purple. A compromise is not my child. I am not her mother, but I have been making choices for her her whole life, what is best for her, and I'm not going to stop now!" She stormed out of the room roughly. Hiccup watched, stunned, as she hopped on her dragon's back, sitting cautiously between the spikes, and flew off.
"She acted like a mother." Hiccup said, shaking his head with surprise.
"She already is one, whether she says she is or not." Valka sighed tiredly, "Let me talk to her- mom to mom. I'll try to convince her." Valka told her son.
"Please tell me, did I really say something wrong?" Hiccup asked, trying to run back through his comments to see if anything could have been offensive or set of her anger.
"Oh Hiccup," Valka just laughed, "You'll be wondering that the rest of your life."
Elsa flew to where she came in from, not because she at all expected something to still be there, but mostly because it was as close to home as she'd get. She sat, and ate some of the berries she found there, and spent a lot of time sitting against her dragon and staring out into the water.
She felt as thought she'd had enough break-downs for Ophelia, so that the little girl would not have to have any. Today's was particularly powerful. Tears escaped her eyes, and her dragon leaned in, seeing her rider distressed, and nudged her with worry.
"Are you…okay?" There was a feminine voice above her. Elsa looked up and saw a beautiful girl with a stern expression and ebony dark hair. When Elsa showed her face, the girl's eyes widened, "You're Hiccup's fiancée!"
"Elsa former Queen of Arendelle." Elsa composed herself enough to offer a shaky hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Camacazi." The girl said, and let her dragon off to wander. She went and pet Elsa's dragon, "Oh, a timberjack! Beautiful-does she have a name?"
"Yes." Elsa said, and the name had been in her head for a couple minuets now, "But Hiccup's told me all about you."
"Ouch." Camacazi winced, "Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Elsa tilted her head.
"No girl wants to hear their future husband talk about other girls." Camaczi gave her a little laugh and Elsa shrugged in agreement.
"It's if he talked about Astrid all the time I'd be worried." She admitted, to which Camcazi gave a tut of agreement. She opened her back and offered Elsa a stick of beef jerk. It was spicy and salty and Elsa's mouth watered at the first taste.
"So what are you doing out here, crying? Do I need to kick Hiccup's face in?" She asked, "I will."
"No…I'm just…emotional." Elsa let out a long sigh, "When we fled my niece survived with me. She's almost five…and I've already been like a mother to her my whole life, and I just…I want to make the choices for her." Elsa said, finding some ground when she explained it, a bit of conviction.
"Motherhood." Camacazi winced, "Wow." She scoffed, "Just think what it will be like with your own children then!"
Elsa didn't answer. Camcazi twiddled her thumbs, "So…you've been here almost a month? Have you and Hiccup ever fought before?" She asked.
"No, I've been… respectful. Keeping quiet, if you will. Trying to get a feel about everything, honestly." Elsa leaned her head against the rough skin of her dragon, "But I'm sure it's the first of many."
"Him and Astrid, they loved each other, but they were like fire and ice. Always fighting, always at each other's throats. Their fights were bad. As in capital B." Camacazi scrutinized her, "You aren't like that."
"Oh, you don't know me. Fire and ice." Elsa winced, and bit her lip, "I overreacted, I think, but he just wasn't listening. I love Valka, but she just wasn't helping. I know she's been a mother too, but she's a Viking mother and I'm a…" Elsa fished for a word.
"Not a Viking?" Camacazi offered.
"Eloquently put." Elsa said deadpanned, "Yes Elsa the 'Not a Viking'." She said, but it was almost teasingly, "that should be my title; you lot seem to be all about that."
"I'm Camacazi the Swift." Camacazi agreed with her observation. Camacazi continued to gently console her for a while longer, until Elsa cracked a smile.
"From the way Hiccup talks of you, I'm beginning to feel you're not real. Like you're only here as part of our imagination to keep us both sane. The magical stress-free fairy." Elsa joked, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.
"Oh, I'm really quite selfish," Camacazi said with a soft laugh, "I'm just gaining 'I-owe-you-points' from both of you, so when I'm pregnant and nasty I can come and cry on your dining room table judgment free." The way she talked, the way she laughed, it almost reminded Elsa of her sister, but her sister in a little darker, more edgy. If her sister was more confident of her ability to be Queen, which now she'd have to, then her and Camacazi may as well have been the same person. Underneath, Elsa could still detect a bubbly and girly and very romantic woman, who really was doing the best she could in the time given to her.
"Well," Elsa said decisively, "That's quite brilliant of you." She agreed, "When we're both pregnant we can intimidate Hiccup and have him wait on us hand and foot." It was almost a adolescent giggle that escaped her, and Camacazi cackled in laughter.
"Hiccup has had nothing but strong and fierce women in his life! If he got a little mousy bride, I don't think either would know what to do with the silence and apologizes all over." Camacazi agreed. She licked her lips nervously, and pulled out a little journal. Elsa could already tell it was one of Hiccup's inventions, as he was at least attempting to popularize the journals. Mostly the future chiefs, the bright eyes of the future, saw it to be very convenient.
"So…there was eight choices for the father of my daughter." Camacazi tapped the page.
"I can't help but asking, but what happens if you have a son?" Elsa asked. Camaczi winced.
"Well, it's seen as unfavorable luck for a chief to be unlucky, but it's not like it's never happened. My mother was a third try chief." Camcazi said, but winced as she said it, "It's more…okay for a general Viking women to have a son, and he would merely go with the father's tribe. Tribes always want sons, illegitimate or not." She rolled her eyes.
"So…if you had a son with a man, would you try again with the same one?" Elsa asked, "You personally, or you the tribe?" She was quite interested in the general aesthetic and personality of the Bogs, and Camcazi only seemed willing to speak.
"No. Some do, it's really a personal choice. I would consider a bad omen, and move on to the second choice, or whatever, down the line. Besides, we aren't supposed to know our fathers, and I feel that if I had a sibling in another tribe by the same father, it wouldn't be so hard to guess." She pointed out.
"But were you a first try?" Elsa asked. Camacazi smiled.
"Thankfully, yes, so I hear." She grinned broadly, "And that is the highest honor for a chief's daughter, the divine right to rule given to me before I was even born." She preened, and Elsa let her have her glory.
"But the list…eight?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Well I don't think I'll have to go through all eight! Odin, I hope not at least!" Camacazi seemed disturbed at the thought, as did Elsa.
"So you need to narrow it down." Elsa concluded, "Hiccup told me he helped you narrow it down to these. But perhaps what you need is the outsider's perspective where I don't know any of them personally, and I have no idea about any of the tribes conflicts yet. Just tell me everything you can about them, but as unbiased as possible." Elsa said, "Could you do that?" She asked, feeling for the first time in a long time, she was in charge of something rather important. The whole delegating and making choices, it was a familiar pattern to her, and Camacazi seemed a little shocked at her boldness, but stuttered out the first information on the name listed by a number one.
By the end, Elsa and Camacazi had decided on the nephew of the current leader of the Meatheads. He was twenty-one, and had the best disposition of any on the list, so Elsa assured her that her child would be kind. The man had sandy colored hair with striking blue eyes, according to Camacazi, and he was by far the most courteous and thoughtful of the ones 'courting' her. Elsa soon realized the reason why she had not just picked him in the first place, as he was the most obvious choice for the best father- he was a little romantic, and she needed someone else to tell her it was okay to go that route, different than probably her mother or any of her tribe would.
It was getting a little dark, and Elsa decided to go back. She didn't want Ophelia to worry where she'd gone. Hiccup? He could worry his little head off, and she wouldn't care. She was still sore with him about their fight, but hoped that this time after she'd left would let him think about her points.
She imagined having to fight with him again, and the coldness crept up her arms. She had only just barely kept her ice-powers to herself when they had fought the first time, and she'd left because she foresaw destroying the kitchen if she stayed any longer. But it was so exhausting and she was sure she couldn't do it again. So she was gong to do her very best to be civil, not for the sake of fixing their fight, but so that the whole town didn't go down in an explosion of ice.
She still needed to tell him, of course, but this was very delicate. It wasn't something you blurted out over dinner…she had to do it right. It would crush her again to experience the same beginning repulsion that her own town had done to her, not when she'd been so happy and so calm with her powers…No! She couldn't go back to that. So…it was better under wraps.
Hiccup was by the door when she arrived.
"Elsa, it's so dark out. Where have you been?" He asked, worriedly. Elsa locked her jaw.
"Out." She said softly, and he came up and grabbed her arms.
"Odin, Elsa. You're freezing." He breathed, and took no time to shed his own coat off and put it around her shoulders. She, of course, was not cold but felt a little heat rise from the gesture itself.
"I named my dragon." She said, patting the Timberjack's head.
"Oh?" Hiccup went up and touched her, but not before she flinched away from him.
"Well, I was out and started thinking about my world…and I guess I realized I'll never get to read some of my favorite books again, because the author isn't even close to being born in this time. And that is really, really, depressing. I love to read, I love to re-read! Nevertheless, of one of my favorite books is one called 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. I learned French just to read it the original way it was written, and one of the beautiful characters in it is named Mercedes. I think that this dragon is a Mercedes to me." She said, and her dragon rubbed herself against Elsa's body, clearly in agreement.
"Mercedes…" Hiccup breathed the word. It was unfamiliar to him, but he sort of liked it. That was Elsa, of course, something unknown and unpredictable.
"Are you still upset with me?" He asked softly.
"I…I don't know Hiccup." Elsa groaned, her shoulders falling a little.
"Would you be less mad if I told you I have some hot milk and cookies waiting for you?" He asked. He seemed too sincere, and Elsa pursed her lips to keep emotions from rising up against her.
"Did you make the cookies?" She questioned with a little smile.
"No. Valka finished the ones you two were making." Hiccup laughed, and she patted his shoulders.
"Then I suppose you're almost forgiven." She lied, but it wasn't worth it to continue fighting right now, and the look on his face made her almost want to drop it altogether.